D.A.'s Bribery Charge Evaporates as he Hands Case Off to Feds

DiMatteo was originally charged with attempting to bribe South Lake Tahoe City Councilwoman Angela Swanson. The DA would never do a public interview about what their proof was. Although it seems the bribery charge against DiMatteo is gone completely, the DA's office did issue a statement saying their investigation into public officials is still on-going.

KRNV & MyNews4.com, Nov 5 2012

News 4 is exclusively learning brand new information about the public official bribery case out of South Lake Tahoe. The el dorado county d-a has said they will be dropping all charges against Gino DiMatteo and letting the feds take over because there are higher criminal penalties in that legal system. Now News 4 is receiving the first copy of the unsealed criminal complaint by the federal government. - the bribery charge is not listed anywhere in it.

Instead they focus on drug related issues - saying DiMatteo employed known Juggolo gang members to help distribute marijuana.

You might remember DiMatteo was originally charged with attempting to bribe South Lake Tahoe City Councilwoman Angela Swanson. The DA would never do a public interview about what their proof was, but the News 4 Fact Finder Team tracked things down to a spurious donation he made to a charity Swanson was on the board of - right around the time the council was voting on whether to keep DiMatteo's pot club open.

Although it seems the bribery charge against DiMatteo is gone completely, the DA's office did issue a statement saying their investigation into public officials is still on-going. Of course we'll continue to monitor this developing story.